Stop Procrastinating and Start Finishing!

Jean was self-employed. She had a lot to do, knew what to do, but somehow still wasn’t putting it into action. With a full schedule she felt pulled in a thousand different directions, and would end many days wondering if anything valuable had gotten done. Even blocking out “appointments with myself” didn’t work. They were too easy to break, in favor of whatever was most urgent or distracting. She didn’t know how to making solid, fast progress towards a goal.

We’ve all been in that position: we have a project to finish, expense reports to fill out, or an office to organize, but we never seem to get started. Or when we finally do sit down, we get drawn in, but a distraction comes along (can you say “inbox”?) and the next thing we know, we’re out of time and have little to show for it.

Or even worse, there’s something that’s been on our task list … and it stays there. For weeks. Months. Sometimes, years. Then you find a paper task list, realize the unfinished tasks from that list are still on your list today. (When this happened to me, I burst into tears. Not my proudest moment.)

As a self-employed person, you live in that world. Fortunately, there’s a tool that can help.

Paradoxically, We Sometimes Procrastinate What’s Most Important!

In a Do-It Day™, you take measurable, specific action to move forward on your top priority projects. Thousands of people have participated in Do-It Days over the years I’ve been running them. Participants say the days have been some of the most productive and valuable days they’ve ever had.

Finish your taxes. Your 2016 taxes.

Write the next chapter of your book.

Make 20 prospecting calls.

Review your employees’ performance.

The format is simple: you and your Do-It Day group will commit to a day of supporting each other in making extreme progress. Once an hour, our system will connect you into a conference call where you will declare what you’ve accomplished in the past hour, and what you intend to finish in the next hour. Then we jump off the call and go to work. At the end of the day, you write up a brief description of the actions you took, and the results you’ve gotten, so you know how much more you achieved than you would on a normal day.

You’ll Engage Several Productivity Principles

The format is simple, and the simplicity hides several powerful principles of taking action:

You will have a group for accountability. It’s easy to skimp on an appointment with yourself, but you’ll show up when the appointment is with other people.

You return to your focus area. Hourly check-ins bring your attention back to your primary goal, even if you’ve been sidetracked by urgent or distracting interruptions.

You see how others approach the same task. Since other people in the check-in are sharing their actions and results, you’ll get quick insight into what others are doing and what kind of results they’re getting.

If a Do-It Day™ makes you just 15% more productive, that’s the equivalent of an entire extra hour of work. And participants often report results far above 15% in their productivity.

Doing It Comes in Different Types

We sometimes have themed Do-it Days™:

Prospecting days. We all do the sales letters, prospect outreach, phone calls, and follow-up that we’ve been putting off.

Sort Out Stuff days. We clear the clutter, be it physical or mental. We end the day with a clean desk, or maybe an empty inbox.

Suck It Up days. We do the things we just plain don’t want to do but need to finish. Like filing insurance claims.

Even Five Check-ins Gives You Benefit

If you can’t block out an entire day, you’ll still get benefit, though you’ll get the most if you have a full day of time that you control. The Do-It Day™ consists of regular check-ins. You spend the time between check-ins working on your normal work. As long as you can make it to five or more of the check-ins, you’ll find tremendous benefit from the day. Don’t choose a day when you have a lot of meetings where you’ll be at the mercy of someone else’s schedule, however. You’ll get the most from your day if you choose a day when you have control over your time.

If you want to have one of the most productive days of your life making progress on your most important projects, sign up now!